by Ross Miller Apr 29th 2008 4:00PM
Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Adventure
Instead of trying to do separate posts on all the mainstream media talk surrounding
Grand Theft Auto IV's launch -- some good, some not -- we've decided to compile a list of the articles we found on the interwebs (with help from
Game Politics):
- Rockstar North President Leslie Benzies said critics of the game are "the same kind of people who complained about Elvis." (Scotsman.com)
- The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) said the portrayal of protagonist Niko as a thug "plays on untrue stereotypes." (MCVUK)
- Grand Theft Childhood co-author Lawrence Kutner: "For most kids and most parents, the bottom-line results of our research can be summed up in a single word: Relax." (Seattle P-I)
- Youth-gang crime exper Michael Chettleburgh called the controversy overhyped by the media. Video games are "just not a primary driver of why kids join gangs." (Metro)
- Lawton, OK Police Chief Ronnie Smith: "Most of the young people who play these games ... they're smart enough to know they're only games." (KWSO)
- Timothy Plan, a "morally responsible" mutual fund, sent out a press release explaining why it won't invest in publisher Take-Two. (Hint: It has to do with violence and boy-kissing.)
- You-Know-Who is doing his thing.
Feel free to include mainstream media chatter you've found, positive or negative, in the comments below.
Tags: controversy, grand-theft-auto, grand-theft-auto-iv, gta, gtaiv, rockstar, take-two
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Check out all our coverage of Grand Theft Auto IV!
(Page 1) Reader Comments
I can has GTA?
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Like me:(
I'm glad it's not just being crushed be police and other people/agencies. That's something nice to hear =)
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Woo Hoo, Lawton Oklahoma Rep yo city!!
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And hopefully, my avatar and name will no longer be Jack Thompson when I post this. That joke has run its course.
i understand your point, but i don't necessarily agree with it. whether it is viewing a classical painting depicting a festive orgy, playing Mass Effect, reading farenheit 451, watching a clockwork orange, or listening to NIN ... I don't want any person EVER to tell me that I can't or shouldn't. don't preach to me, preach to your kids, your polygamous church members, or the hookers you bang after taking your kids to soccer practice. (not you, brandon, just overzealous people in general).
my point being ... when it comes down to it, mass effect is just a game, fahrenheit 451 is just a book, a clockwork orange is just a movie, closer is just a song, and Bacchanal is just a painting. and if i wanted to cut off my testicles and put them in a jar, i should have the right to show my "artwork" to all interested parties. (as long as they were of the age of majority consent)
they need to stop acting like video games are the only source of violence accessible to young people. what about movies? PASSION OF THE CHRIST WAS ONE OF THE MOST VIOLENT MOVIES IVE EVER SEEN! but its loved by many. what about sports? football is pretty violent, ive seen some sick shit playing football in highschool. hockey has fist fights but its "part of the game"
i guess what im trying to say is...critics, chill the fuck out
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Its called the Sony Defense Force. It goes around kicking the crap out of nerd point lovers and laughing at there small hard drives :)
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oh did you know that someone in London was stabbed last night while waiting for the game?
someone should tell you know who that for a laugh
lol
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A man was stabbed in front of a queue of people waiting to buy the latest edition of a computer game.
Up to 100 people witnessed the knife attack outside the Gamestation store in Croydon, ahead of Monday's midnight release of Grand Theft Auto IV.
Police said the 23-year-old victim was walking past the queue when he was stabbed several times by a hooded man who appeared to be waiting in line.
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to steal a line I read elsewhere.. that M.O. sounds more Assassins Creed than GTA
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http://www.komotv.com/features/kenschram/18338409.html
Best quote ever from a man in the media.
"Relax.
It's a video game.
It's not going to steal souls.
It's not going to rot minds.
It's pure fantasy.
In short, don't be such a nun."
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And the LA Times has a glowing review on the front of their Calendar section.
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Great article, and interview with a Rockstar writer on NPR. Some funny moments where they play excepts from GTA Radio.
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I do agree with the Elvis comparison, though. Unfortunately, I'm thinking of the Elvis from 1977.
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From New Jersey's own liberal rag, the Star-Ledger.
"Grand Theft Auto IV puts players in control of Niko Bellic, a Balkan war veteran and flesh peddler who comes to realize his criminal ambitions in Liberty City, a.k.a. New York."
I've played through the Uncle Vlad mission, and have to see any evidence that Nikko is a "flesh peddler" or common thug.
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That way, there's already enough chum in the water to feed the sharks.
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This may be true, but if we're going to rag on stereotypes presented in games, why don't we look at movies?
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Well sure, and the majority of society knows stealing and murdering is bad, but they're not the problem are they. It's the minority group we're worried about. Being stuck in a room with a thousand nice persons with one psycho killer with an uzi wouldn't make for a comforting atmosphere no matter how low the ratio is (unless you count bullets to victim ratio). I'm not saying any of such games are a direct cause (though "life imitating art" tends to happen) but an open mind for both claims on this issue couldn't hurt.
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